DOES AGING MEAN A BETTER LIFE FOR WOMEN

OBJECTIVE: To study 10-year changes in selected quality of life dimens ions in a cohort of aging Eastern Finnish women. DESIGN: Ten-year foll ow-up of a representative population sample. SETTING: The county of Ku opio in Eastern Finland. PARTICIPANTS: In 1982, a representative sampl e (n = 296) of 50 to 60-year-old women was examined in the FIN-MONICA study. Ten years later, 241 of the participants were re-examined. MEAS UREMENTS: Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the da ta. Self-rated health, self-rated physical fitness, frequency of leisu re time physical activity, functional capacity, reported symptoms, occ urrence of diseases, and satisfaction with family life and economic si tuation were measured. In 1992, total life satisfaction at that moment and 5 years earlier were also assessed. RESULTS: The self-rated healt h assessment remained unchanged. During the 10 years from 1982 to 1992 , the proportion of women who reported diagnosed cardiopulmonary disea ses increased; angina pectoris, in particular, increased from 6% to 20 %. However, even though their running ability had decreased, the numbe r of women rating their physical fitness as good or fairly good increa sed from 23% to 32%. The participants reported significantly less head ache and feelings of exhaustion than they had 10 years earlier. Averag e satisfaction with their economic situation increased, and satisfacti on with family life remained the same. Thirty-seven percent of the wom en rated their current life situation as better than 5 years previousl y, 29% felt that it had remained the same, and 34% indicated that it h ad become worse during the past 5 years. CONCLUSION: These data sugges t that some quality of life dimensions may improve during aging in pos tmenopausal women.